Another winner from Rachel Reid!

This book was such a breath of fresh air, which says a lot considering its yet another MM Hockey Romance (which isn't a bad thing!)

I devoured this one in a couple of sittings. This was such an easy read with just the right amount of angst, fluff and spice - hehe. I loved it!

4 stars rounded up from 3.5, I was very conflicted on my feelings about Adam and how he treated Riley in the past. My heart went out to Riley the entire time, we meet him right as he’s laying his dad to rest and then Adam shows up for the first time in over a decade and I don’t blame Riley for being pissed at all. I appreciate the growth Adam had but man it was hard to read some of it, I found myself commiserating with Riley, who is a better person than me because I don’t think I would have been able to forgive Adam. Anyway, second chance at first love for both of them, hockey romance though the hockey was more in flashbacks since both MMCs are in their early 40s. I did find myself smiling at the epilogue.

This is a second chance romance about retired NHL players, and it’s set in small town Nova Scotia!!

This was frustrating at first because of the way Adam hurt Riley in the past, I wasn’t sure if I could forgive him. However I found myself rooting for them and I especially wanted Riley to find his happiness. Adam definitely had character growth but I wanted more acknowledgment of the pain he caused Riley and how much that affected him. I felt the ending was super quick but I liked the epilogue to see how they ended up. Overall I did find their romance to be super sweet and I enjoyed the small town aspects and side characters.

4/5 ⭐️
3/5 🌶️ MM
(ARC)

OK, this was absolutely delightful. Thank you for the ARC!
Second chance romance & both MMC’s are in their 40s 🙌🏽
Riley & Adam were hockey team mates & best friends with benefits in their 20s. Riley confessed his love for Adam & in turn, Adam gets married to a woman & has 2 kids. Riley quits hockey & moves back to his hometown, cutting all communication with Adam.
12 years later, Riley’s father passes away & Adam comes back to support him. He’s divorced now & has accepted he’s gay. Riley doesn’t trust him. But soon, Adam begins to show Riley that he knows what he let go, & how much he still cares.

I saw a lot of reviews pissed off at Adam for breaking Riley’s heart. I think he was a scared 20 year professional sports star who had very deep internalized homophobia.
My ONLY dislike was Adam’s relationship w/ his kids. I wish we had seen more of them. But his ex wife was amazing!

his is my first book by Reid and I was absolutely sucked into this story and the characters. The way the story was told hit the heart strings in all the right ways. The story lines of grief, sexual acceptance, addiction and found family were all done in such a beautiful and simple way.

The arc and character growth of the two main characters is what truly made me fall in love with this book. Shep and Riles both learned to accept parts of themselves because the other was there with them. The way that they yearned for one another’s touch and waiting to hear the other call out their special nickname…swoon worthy!

Yes, this book centers around two hockey players, but this book is so much more than a hockey romance. If you are looking for a MM romance that will play with your heart strings, please don’t delay and pick this one up!

Thank you @netgalley and @harlequinbooks for this gifted copy of “The Shots You Take”.

I thought I was done with hockey romance, but I’m actually just a liar! I’m so delighted by this book and am ready for the next one hehe.

Loved loved loved. This is a sad hockey boy romance, full of grief, second chances, and redemption. My heart ached for Riley but I loved seeing our sad hockey boys get the happily ever after they deserved.

I am a grudge holder, while I love Rachel Reid's other works, I don't usually like second-chance romances. Adam did Riley very wrong in the past, and I am the person who will hold on to grudges for my friends. So I spent a lot of the book being pissed at Adam for Riley. He grew on me a bit and I kinda wanted them to make up and be in each other's lives, but every time Adam made a move on Riley, I wanted to slap him and tell him to slow the hell down.
All of this to say I still did enjoy reading The Shots You Take, I spent most of the book angry on Riley's behalf BECAUSE he's so well written. The unfortunate thing about second-chance romances is how fast they unfortunately have to move on from the past. There are so many other fabulous parts of this book so I was able to ignore how much I wasn't digging the romance. I loved so much else about this book, particularly Riley's queer friend group. Darren and Tom are living my dream life. every march when get a taste of making apple syrup I want to live/work on a queer maple syrup farm in Canada, and that's their life! Bea and Nell are lesbian bee farmers( and one has pink hair and!! same hair!!!)! I loved them all. Rachel Reid writes beautifully and I love so much about her stories, I might not have loved this romance but I still found some joy in it.

The Shots You Take is a down-to-earth second-chance romance. While technically a sports romance, this book is more of a reflective piece, taking place after both Riley and Adam retire.

Reid treats grieving and recovering lost trust as long-term processes. I really appreciate how these traumas are handled. No amount of insta-love or other romance novel magic can patch up that kind of bone-deep hurt. Riley and Adam have a very long road ahead of them, but they just may be worth the journey.

I love how this book acknowledges the toxicity in hockey culture (and toxic masculinity in general) while remaining hopeful for a more accepting future. It takes a similar approach to mental illness and wellness. I closed this book feeling that hope in my own heart.

Bonus points for Lucky. 10/10 good dog.

I'm grateful for the chance to check out this book for free. I'm leaving this review of my own accord.

The Shots You Take is for readers who love a second-chance sports romance featuring leads in their 40s (yay!) who must work through grief, past hurts, and uncertainty of public perception to find their happily ever after. Riley and Adam are former roommates and former teammates for Toronto's hockey team. After almost a decade apart - and Adam's marriage with two kids - Adam ends up back in Riley's orbit for Riley's father's funeral. It's an (understandable) slow burn, with flashbacks to to their past intertwined with current times, heartfelt and heartwarming, spicy and swoony. I adored this romance and highly recommend it! Thank you to Harlequin - Carina for the advanced reading copy, receipt of which did not impact my review.

I’m getting annoyed with the characters. This book started off good but it’s getting to be an insufferable experience. DNF @ 200 pages. The only reason I pushed through to 200 is to get points for a readathon.

The Shots You Take, by Rachel Reid

This novel was a sweet & sexy second chance romance of 2’retired hockey players who are battered and bruised in body and heart.

Adam and Riley, former hockey players had a clandestine relationship, where one fell in love and the other - f$@ked it all up. Years later the two reconnect after Riley’s dad dies. What follows is a heart journey full of heartbreaking and heart warming moments.

I loved how Rachel finds new ways to bring hockey romance to readers. This time, retired and 40+ with all its aches and pains. All of which is paired with Rachel’s love for hockey! I love Canadian authors,‘especially those with a full hockey heart!

Thank you NetGalley, Rachel and the publishers for my gifted arc!

Riley Tuck returned to his small town after his hockey career imploded and has found himself and peace for the most part. It isn't until his father passed away unexpectedly that he's faced with his greatest regret, Adam Sheppard. Adam knows showing up for Riley's dad's funeral is a risk but it's the only shot he may have to get back into Riley's life. To say their reunion is rocky is an understatement with Riley fighting any help Adam tries to offer. Old feelings are hard to ignore and Riley refuses to risk his heart again on the man who so carelessly threw it away before. But Adam feels he's a changed man and wants a chance to prove it.

I love Rachel Reid's books and appreciate that she keeps her characters flawed because that makes them human. That being said I think she made some plot choices that could have been different and made it so Adam's redemption was an uphill battle I’m not sure he won. Ignoring his disregard for his marriage and Riley's feelings made him hard to forgive. Riley was charmingly flawed and his openness about his sexuality in a small town and struggles with mental illness were a breath of fresh air.

3.5 stars for Adam’s rocky road to redemption and Riley.

The Shots You Take by Rachel Reid is a MM sports romance that was emotional, angsty, and heartwarming. Riley Tuck and Adam Sheppard met when they were starting out as hockey players in their early twenties and during a time that sports were not open about sexuality. Riley has always known who he is and what he wants. Adam, on the other hand, is drawn to Riley, but does not mean anything right? Only it was everything. Now decades later, Riley is grieving, lost and the last thing he expects is Adam back in his life.

Years ago, Riley went back home after heartbreak and spiraling and found his peace. It has been over a decade and now Adam is back. What does he want? I loved Riley. He struggled with so much but was determined to live his life. He was caring and sweet. Adam found himself knowing what he wants, but was it too late? Adam was confident, caring and protective. He was determined to be there for Riley at any cost.

Adam hurt Riley deeply in the past. It left a mark on Riley. We get their past in between their present and my heart broke for both of them. Now Riley is protecting his heart and Adam is handing his to Riley on a platter. I was pulled right in from the start and wanted to see how it would end.

Happy reading!

Uggggghhhhhh…why do I love stories that also make me so sad. This is Love, Rosie all over again (I adore that movie so so much). Only this time it’s two loveable retired hockey idiots who can’t get their shit together and waste 12 years when they could be in love and together and happy. I love how this was written. Once again, Rachel Reid has made magic and written characters that I adore, even if I wanna bop them on the head and yell at them. The grief is intense, the mental health struggles are real and the dog is adorable. I think mm hockey romance/smut is actually my whole personality now (I’m kidding but literally, Rachel Reid is perfection and I’m 8/8 for loving her books! That is all.

A book with characters in their 30s and 40s? Yes, please, sign me up!

Thank you to Carina Press for granting me an ARC.

This was a very emotional read, right from the start of the book. Riley suffers a huge loss, and his grief is palpable. His former boyfriend Adam, recently retired hockey star, showing up at the same time isn't welcome, and once I found out a bit of the background between Riley and Adam, I began to wonder how the author would give him a redemption arc. The way Adam treated Riley before he became Mr. Huge Hockey Star made me so mad, and I didn't really want Riley to give him another chance, now that Adam has finally seemed to have climbed out of his self-imposed closet.

Obviously, this being a romance, the two men do get together again, and though I would have liked to see a bit more groveling from Adam, I could also see that the feelings they had for each other never entirely died away, despite the years, the distance, and the hurt Adam caused.

Solid writing, with complex and multi-faceted characters made this book time well spent. And I'll forgive the author for making me spill a few tears in the beginning.

Would love to read more from Ms. Reid, for sure.

Wow, this book...

This was an amazing second chance romance set in a small coastal town in Nova Scotia. The heartbreak was intense, what brought them back together was painful, but when they finely found their way together it was perfection.
Flash backs set the scene for their budding romance and eventual heart break.
Adam and Riley grew up together playing hockey, friends first, but secret lovers followed. While Riley was always confident in who he was, Adam wasn't so.
Fast forward ten years later and we are now starting their love story.
The heartbreak, absolute anguish, that Riley went through was almost too much for me.
I was so invested in these two and was basically relieved when Riley finally gave Adam his second chance. Rachel Ried, you know what you are doing.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and author for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review

Such a fun and fast read that had me getting teary-eyed. The way grief is explored is wonderful. It's not just about the grief of death, but also about the grief of what could have been. Really enjoyed it.

pretty solid, I'm just not OBSESSED

likes:
- the reason for their initial falling out made actual sense
- older MMCs
- groveling & hurt/comfort
- mental health rep.
- i'm a sucker for hockey playerssssss

dislikes:
- not enough flashbacks
- sloooooooow burn
- don't know if I would've been able to forgive and forget that easily (more power to Riley)

I really enjoyed The Shots You Take by Rachel Reid, though it wasn't quite my favorite romance of the year. The story centers on Riley Tuck, who’s dealing with a personal tragedy when his ex-teammate and former best friend with benefits, Adam Sheppard, comes back into his life. The chemistry between them is intense, and I loved seeing how their past history played into their present dynamic.

Reid does a great job showing Riley’s grief and the slow process of rebuilding trust with Adam. The flashbacks to their earlier relationship were a nice touch and helped me understand their complicated connection better. That said, I found the pacing a bit slower than I anticipated, and some of the resolutions felt a little too neat for my taste.

Overall, it’s a solid and emotional read, with great characters and a slow burn romance, but it didn’t completely wow me. Still, definitely worth checking out if you like second-chance romances!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Romance for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.